Pete and Jude

Kia Ora Blokes and Blokettes Time for an update (and for me to record our travels before I forget!) and this time is our February 2011 holiday in Krabi. Having explored and loved Northern Thailand last year (Chiang Mai and surrounds) this time we wanted to check out the South we had heard so much about and with names like Phuket, Ko Samui, Krabi et al, - how could we resist. Jumping on the internet, reading blogs and talking to friends who have travelled this way before resulted in a bit of brain overload – TOO many choices – the thing is, I reckon, there aren’t any really bad ones. My Sis Chris from NZ was joining us, so we planned on meeting at Bangkok and spending a few days there first. I wasn’t that fussed ... read more

Kia Ora! ........ from the Desert Island of Bahrain Folks, and profound, untold and immense apologies for the big gap in Blog episodes since Feb 2010! Read on and you’ll see why time has flown for us, what we’ve been up to and why I’ve been so slack in maintaining the Blog (Did I say that out loud?) Okay, after having a blast in Goa, - India’s beautiful and economical beach area, we settled back into island life - Jude going to work all day and me doing the House Hubby thing, - you know, lying by the pool, coffee mornings, playing cards, cycling the back streets on Myrtle, cooking dinner etc etc and suddenly the excitement and hoopla of the Formula One meeting descended on Bahrain. In March, the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) hosted the ... read more

By a quirk of fate, a visiting Couchsurfer last month mentioned that the World MotoGP - the 2 wheeled version of Formula One - was kicking off in Doha, the capital of nearby Qatar in April. Cool! We’d never considered watching a MotoGP live, but we never expected to be so close and with fares to Qatar as low as $NZ100 one way, we (Pete!) set about scheming how to get us there for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It has recently amused me that the aviation code for Doha International Airport, is DOH, - and how appropriate in booking our flights. First I booked to watch the racing during the day and head home that night. THEN I realise it’s a night race - the only one for the year, DOH! So I rebook the flights to ... read more

Hi Friends and Family Just thought it easier to post pics of our new Apartment here rather than clogging the internet capillaries....... We lurved our 3rd floor apartment BUT the traffic noise was diabolical. Seems #32 is the apartment people move in to before they move higher up to avoid the noise!! The previous tenants to us did exactly that. The Apartment management are sneaky tho, they say "We have an apartment available on the 3rd floor (closest to traffic) but thats unavailable to view today, but we can show you an identical apartment on the 11th floor" Anyways - I moved us with multiple trolley loads during the day so when Jude came home, She just slept in a different apartment than she left in the morning! Fortunately the furniture is all the same, so ... read more

Bring on Twenty Ten! Well, after a fantastic break in Chiang Mai, we eased back in to life here in Bahrain - a change of currency, back to driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road, and, for Jude at least, WORK! We have managed to have some fun tho, “as you do” when away from home and friends, we tend to knock around with fellow expats and share birthdays, etc - and “socialise with selected refreshments” when appropriate. One outing recently was to the Horse Races - held every Friday over “winter”, remembering our weekend is Fri/Sat, back to work Sunday. Entry is free, and it gave us the opportunity to pull on some glad rags (why do we call them glad rags? More likely they are glad when we take them off) and head ... read more

Seasons Greetings Friends and Family We have just 3 sleeps left til we skidaddle off to Thailand for 18 days or so, - Jude can’t wait! - and I'm also looking forward to a change of scene, some more warmth (22C here - and 30C there) - and hopefully some riding….. Bahrain is really quite small - maybe 40 km’s long and skinny, so when hols come around, most people take the opportunity to take off. With some new air routes being added by various airlines, there are some bargains to be had - for example, a return flight to Dubai for $NZ85! Evidently Hotel prices there are cheap also given their wee ‘crash’ recently. We have been doing some exploring on the weekends and amusing ourselves while the temps are conducive to outdoor activities. We ... read more